Self-serving store



H. C. HARVEY.

SELF-SERVING STORE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 16. I918.

Patented Aug. 24,

H. C. HARVEY.

SELF-SERVING STORE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 16. 1918.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY G. HARVEY, OF HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

SELF-SERVING STORE.

Application filed October 16, 1918. Serial No. 258,346.

of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to merchandizing and more particularly to thearrangement and equipment of what may be termed the plant of a store.

As is well known to those familiar with the subject, the expense ofselling is a very high percentage of the total cost of doing businessand it is the object of the present invention to reduce this sellingcost by an arrangement and equipment that will limit the attendants to aminimum number.

Specific objects of the invention include the provision of anarrangement that permits of the location of the diflerent generalclasses of merchandise by the prospective customer at a distant point;also the arrangement of goods such as will permit of the spontaneousnotice of the customer.

A further object of the invention is the provision of such anarrangement as Wlll permit of restocking of the merchandise exhibitorswith a minimum of labor and with despatch.

Other objects attained by the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing a stock room and a sales room with itslobby correlated and equipped in accordance with the present invention.

Fig 2 is a vertical section taken transversely through the lobby andlooking in the direction of the stock room.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the entireequipment at a point between the shelving stack 46 and the cabinet ofFig. 1 and looking to the right.

Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of one of the stacks and showing the truckmounted on it.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a store room including what maybe termed the sales room 10 with its communicating lobby 11 and in therear of which sales room is the stock room 12 communicating with thesales room by a doorway 13 provlded with a suitable closure.

The lobby, as illustrated is at the front of the store and has theentrance doorwa 14 at each side of which is a transparent front 15 whichif desired may be removable or foldable as are man store fronts.

Transversely of t e store and separating the lobby from the sales roomis a railing l6 and near to the end of the railing at one side of thestore the receive a turnstile including a central standard 17 having theusual arms 18 that radiate from a hub mounted upon the standard. Fromthe standard forwardly beyond the sweep of the arms of the turnstilethere extends a rail 19 at right angles to the railing 16 which latterit will be understood is provided with a wire or other structureextending from it to the floor.

rom the post 17 of the turnstile there,

extends into the sales room a low partition 20 surmounted by a rail atsubstantially the same height as the rail 16, this partition 20 abuttinga partition 21 of the same height that extends transversely of the salesroom at both sides of the partition 20. That portion of the partition 21extending from the partition 20 in thedirection'of the remote wall 22 ofthe store terminates at a low partition 23 that extends in the directionof and terminates short of the transverse rail 16 which with its lowerequipment constitutes a low partition.

At opposite sides of the post 17 are the ingress and egress openings 2iand 25 through which the customers enter and leave the sales roomrespectively.

The portion of the partition 21 extending from the partition 20 in thedirection of the near wall 26 of the store terminates against a stack ofshelves 27 that extend from the partition 21 parallel with the wall 26to near the rear wall 27 of the sales room, these stacks of shelves 27being double faced, that-is opening at both sides of the stack. Thestack 27 and the adjacent portion oft-he partition 21 form one boundaryof a basket rack 29 that extends to near the turnstile so that acustomer entering'through the opening 24 may take a basket from thisrailing is interrupted to rack to hold the goods selected in a manner ofshelves 30 between which and the stack 27 is a passageway 31 thatcontinues to the wall 27.

A stack of shelves 32 extends from the wall 26 to the door opening 13 inthe rear wall 27 of the sales room while a stack of shelves 33 extendsfrom the doorway 13 to the wall 22. both of these last named stacksbeing against the wall 27. A stack of shelves 34 is disposed against thewall 22 and extends from the shelves 33 to near the partition 16.

From the stack 27 there extend in the direction of and at right anglesto the wall 22, merchandise exhibitors 35, 36, 37, and 33 whichterminate short of the stack of shelving 34 to afford a passage andalternating with these merchandise exhibitors are other similarexhibitors 39, 40, 41, and 4-2 that extend from the stack of shelving 34in the direction of and terminating short of the stack 27. These lastnamed series of exhibitors are therefore in staggered relation and theyare spaced apart sufficiently to permit of ready movement of customersbetween them and between their free ends and the opposite shelvingstack.

The foremost exhibitor 39 is of a height to permit a view of it from thelobby 11 over the intervening equipment and the succeeding exhibitorsare each slightly higher than the preceding one, progressing toward therear of the sales room so that a customer in the lobby 11 may see theupper portions of all of these exhibitors to note the signs with whichthey are equipped and which indicate the classes of merchandiseexhibited on them and to see the goods displayed upon the upper shelves.

Between the partition 23 and the wall 22 are arranged a refrigerator 43,a meat cabinet 44, and a bread cabinet 45, although it will beunderstood that cabinets or exhibitors for other commodities may besubstituted. These cabinets are spaced from an exhibitor 46 disposedagainst thepartition 23 and between it and the wall 22, which exhibitormay constitute a vegetable rack in the event the equipment is employedfor a correlated class of store. Also a shelf or othertype of exhibitor47 is disposed along the rear face of the partition 21. v

Extending from the partition 20 toward but terminating short of thepartition 23 is a cashiers counter comprising a section 48 that isspaced from the partition 21 and parallel toiit. Thence it extendsforwardly as shown at 50 and is then returned parallel to and spacedfrom the rail 16 as shown at 51; this latter portion terminating shortof the rail 52. The portion 50 of the counter at its forward end isconnected with the partition 23 by a chain or other removable barrier50'.

In operating this sales equipment, the

customer enters the lobby and having taken a view of the signs on thedifferent exhibitors, both the transversely extending ones and thelongitudinally extending ones, he.

passes through the entrance 24, which is permitted by the turnstile thatoperates in this one corresponding direction. A basket is selected froma rack 29 and the customer makes his way through the passage 31. 1f thedesired commodity is at the rear of the sales room he continues down thepassage 31 to the rear and then passes between the staggered exhibitorsto the location of the article wanted. He may then continue to the frontof the store selecting such additional articles as may'suit his fancyand finally passing across to the cashiers counter where payment for thearticles is made. He then passes out through the turnstile. The price ofeach article is marked plainly on it so that the customer knows its costand so that the cashier may readily determine the total.

If the article or articles desired are located toward the front of thesales room, the customer may pass from the passageway 31 to thecircuitous passageway between the staggered exhibitors through one ofthe turnstiles 53 formed through the shelving stack 27 and opening fromthe passage 31 to the circuitous passage in the direction of progressthrough the circuitous passage toward the front of the store. Thus theentry through a turnstile 53 to the circuitous passage will be with andnot against the stream.

It will of course be understood that the customer may enter withouthaving first located from the lobby the article or articles desired andmay pass from one part of the sales room to another in search of sucharticles as may strike the fancy.

To facilitate restocking of the various merchandise exhibitors, anopening 54 is formed in the transverse partition 27 at a height abovetheheads of the customers and a bridge 55 is extended from this opening tothe shelving stack 27 and with the said stack, carries track rails 56that extend from the forward end of the stack 27 across the bridgethrough the opening 54 and into the stock room 12 into which the bridgelikewise projects to carry the rails. Beside the portion of the bridgethat projects into the stock room is a loading platform 57 provided witha runway 58 to facilitate the bringing of merchandise onto the platformfrom which it is lifted onto a wheeled truck 59 disposed upon thetrackway and designed for moving throughout the length 'of the latter.The truck with its load of merchandise is pushed or operatedmechanically by gravity to'the proper point of the length of theshelving stack 27 and being stopped, its contents are removed in wholeor in part and transferred to the proper exhibitors.

The stack 27 thus serves not only to exhibit the merchandise but tocarry the merchandise-or distributing system and it will be understoodof course that the truck may be stopped in any place most convenient forunloading.---'

It will be noted that the shelving stacks 27 and 34 form lateralbarriers alternately at opposite ends of the transverse exhibitors butit will be understood that unshelved partitions or walls may in someinstances be advantageously substituted.

While the rail 16 has been illustrated as low so that what lies behindit may be clearly seen, in Fig. 2, it will of course be understood thatthis rail and the underlying grating may have any desired height.

It will be understood that when the trade in the store is such that onecashier may attend to the customers the chain 50 is extended asillustrated and the customers all pass between the portion 51 of thecounter and the rail 16. When, however, the business requires more thanone cashier, additional cashiers may stand behind other portions of thecounter and the chain 50 disengaged at one end to permit it to hang sothat the customers may pass between the counter and the partitions 23and 21 as indicated.

What is claimed is:

1. A merchandizing apparatus having a series of parallel merchandiseexhibitors staggered laterally of the series, the successive exhibitorsincreasing in height with a resultant possible view of the upperportions of all of them throughout their lengths, from a common point ina direction at right angles to the exhibitors, whereby to display fromsuch common point the characters of goods contained by the exhibitors.

2. A merchandizing apparatus having a series of merchandise exhibitorshaving barriers arranged alternately at their opposite ends with aresultant circuitous passage, a lobby with respect to the view fromwhich the exhibitors are arranged at right angles and with which lobbyone end of the passage communicates, a passage-Way leading from theother end of the circuitous passage to the lobby adjacent to the firstnamed end-of the circuitous passage and a single means for limiting thelobby-communicating end of the circuitous passage to e ress and thelobby-communicating end of the passage-way to ingress.

3. A merchandizing apparatus comprising a sales room and a lobby, thesales room having a series of merchandise exhibitors and barriers atalternate opposite ends of the exhibitors with a resultant circuitouspassage, a passage-way leading from the lobby to the remote end of thecircuitous passage, a cashiers department communicating with theopposite end of the circuitous passage and with the lobby and a singlemeans for permitting egress only between the cashiers department and thelobby and for permitting ingress only between the lobby and the saidpassage-way communicating therewith.

4-. A merchandizing apparatus including separate compartments, one ofthe compartments having a merchandise exhibitor, additional merchandiseexhibitors in juxtaposition to the first exhibitor, a trackway extendingfrom the other compartment and traversing and supported upon the firstnamed exhibitor and a merchandise truck mounted upon and movable overthe trackwa 5 A merchandizing apparatus comprising separatecompartments, one of the compartments having a merchandise exhibitorextending in the direction of the other com partment, a trackwayextending from within said other compartment and traversing saidexhibitor and supported thereon, and additional exhibitors at oppositesides of the first named exhibitor and in juxtaposition thereto.

6. A merchandizing apparatus comprising separate compartments, one ofthe compartments having a merchandise exhibitor extending in thedirection of the other compartment, a trackway extending from withinsaid other compartment and traversing and supported upon said exhibitor,and additional exhibitors at opposite sides of the first named exhibitorand in juxtaposition thereto, the exhibitor at one side of the firstnamed exhibitor extending parallel throughout the length of the formerand the exhibitors at the other side of the first named exhibitor beingmutually parallel and at angles to the first named exhibitor.

7. A merchandizing apparatus comprising separate compartments, one ofthe compartments having a merchandise exhibitor extending in thedirection of the other compartment, a trackway extending from withinsaidother compartment and traversing said exhibitor, additional exhibitorsat oppositesides of the first named exhibitor and in juxtapositionthereto, the exhibitor at one side of the first named exhibitorextending parallel throughout the length of the former and theexhibitors at the other side of the first named exhibitor being mutuallyparallel and at angles to the first named exhibitor and alternatelyspaced therefrom.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signaturein the presence of a witness.

HENRY C. HARVEY. Witness:

J A. MORIARTY.

